


Shinra Lab Brat

by Tyger



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AU, AU (fusion), Dystopia, F/M, Gen, Human Experimentation, Medical Torture, Zack gets his canon ending :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-28
Updated: 2010-11-28
Packaged: 2017-10-19 00:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/194937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyger/pseuds/Tyger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas is only nine, but he knows he can take it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shinra Lab Brat

**Author's Note:**

> This AU mostly the fault of conversations between [](http://azremodehar.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**azremodehar**](http://azremodehar.dreamwidth.org/) and myself, though it's not entirely the AU we talked about.
> 
> For [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/au_bingo/profile)[**au_bingo**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/au_bingo/) prompt: dystopia

        The only good thing about falling into the lifestream by accident is that Sora is mainly spared the follow-up experiments. _Control subject_ , say the scientists, which means that Sora gets check-ups every month, but that's all. Roxas is only nine, but even he understands that it's 'cause Sora's a distant third-cousin of the Shinra family. Not like Roxas. Roxas is a full first cousin, third in line after Rufus and his father. Roxas could be a _threat_.

        Not that he wants the stupid company, he's been at work with his dad enough to know that grown-up jobs are _really boring_. But Uncle Shinra always looks at him like he's trouble, and teachers that look at you like that always way meaner to you than the other kids. So Roxas bets that's why Sora gets to be the control subjects, and Roxas is the one who gets experimented on.

        That's okay, though. It really is. Roxas likes Sora. He doesn't want Sora to be hurt. Maybe Roxas is only nine, but he knows he can take it.

        He's not the only kid in the labs.

        He's just the only one that gets to _leave_ when they're done for the day.

-

        One day he's sitting in the lab - it's still early, they haven't even _seen_ him yet, so he gets to at least wait around in his normal clothes, which is kind of awesome. He's pretty used to the hospital gowns by now, but even though they don't bother him he doesn't _like_ them, either. And if he still has his clothes he still has his game, too, so he can sit around playing it, at least until they fix whatever mess got made overnight - and there has to be a mess, he can smell the blood and mako. And anyway, the labs are never this behind unless something's happened. He's been waiting almost half an hour already.

        "Hey," says someone, with a kind voice, dropping into the chair next to Roxas. Roxas is in the middle of a boss fight, so he doesn't look up, but he can tell the guy's a SOLDIER anyway. No-one else smells like mako and that other-stench, the one Roxas still doesn't know what is, except for SOLDIERs and labrats, and Roxas knows all the labrats. He doesn't know this guy.

        "You here with your parents, or something?" the guy asks, and Roxas shakes his head _no_ , wins the bossfight and pauses. He can tell already the guy's not going to go away.

        He's - well, tall, but all grown-ups are tall, and this guy is definitely a grown up. Black spiky hair and a grin that reminds Roxas of Sora. He guesses he's probably okay, then. He doesn't _feel_ mean, anyway, and the more mako that gets pumped into him the easier it's getting for him to tell.

        "What about you?" he asks. The guy's wearing a 2nd-Class SOLDIER uniform, only it's old and battered, not fresh and new, smells more like monster blood and dirt than factories. He hasn't just been promoted, that's for sure.

        "Checkup," says the guy, making a face. "Got a hell house bite that's just not healing right, so Sephiroth made me come up here, get it checked out."

        "Really?" says Roxas. That's kind of cool. "Can I see?"

        The guy laughs, and rolls up the leg of his pants, and yeah, there's a giant bite there, swollen and pussy and _gross_.

        Then the techs get there, and the day goes back on course.

-

        Roxas sees the guy again a couple of months later. It's kind of cool, actually, he doesn't usually see people more than once, not unless they're experiments like him.

        "Hey, it's you!" says the guy, grinning at him as Roxas comes out from the labs. Still in the hospital gown, he's just getting a break to let the mako settle, before they run more tests. They used try to feed him, too, but food after mako just makes Roxas wanna chuck, so they don't do that any more.

        It's pretty obvious why the guy's here this time. Brand new uniform, SOLDIER 1st Class. That's really kind of awesome, there's hardly _any_ 1st Class SOLDIERs. Roxas has only met Sephiroth, out of all of them. He's in the labs a lot too.

        "Hi," says Roxas, and the same techs that are dropping him off are picking that guy up. "It's okay if you scream," he tells him, as he's about to go.

        "Don't worry, kid, I'm tough," says the guy, grinning at him.

        Roxas just looks at him, because he's serious. He might only be nine, but he knows Hojo pretty well by now. "It's okay if you scream," he says again.

        The guy seems to believe him, that time.

-

        He hears the guy start screaming when he's about halfway through the tests, even though all the labs are soundproofed. He's been able to do that better, the more mako he gets, too.

        He's still screaming when Roxas leaves for the day.

        Roxas doesn't see him again.

-

        He doesn't find out who the guy was until years afterwards. He's strung out, half-delirious from the fever, the shakes, the - everything. Mako withdrawal is a bitch, and when it's going through a bad patch like this Aerith holds on to his hands and tells him stories. Anything, to keep him _here_ , not sinking back down into the pain, or stretching his soul loose, away from his body, to try and stop hurting that way.

        From what he hears about her ex-boyfriend, he has to be that guy. There're never many 1st Class SOLDIERs. And what she knows about what happened to him-

        "Sucks. He seemed like a really nice guy."


End file.
